Nikon has named Yasuyuki Okamoto President and CEO. With the move, Okamoto assumes responsibility for sales, marketing and customer service in the Americas.
With 29 years in Nikon’s photo and imaging business the company is hopeful that Okamoto can lead the charge to keep up with rival Canon who recently released the new segment leading Canon 40D 10 megapixel DSLR.
According to reports Nikon has plans to relase the new D300 and the new D3 in response to Canon. The D3 will be the company’s first foray into the world of full frame sensors. Nikon’s lack of a full frame sensor camera line has been cited as a primary reason for Canon’s camera dominance amongst sports pros and as well as among many other serious photographers.
Michio Kariya will continue as CEO of Nikon worldwide.
Today George Harrison Senior VP of Marketing at Nintendo of America, announced his departure after fifteen years with the company. Reuters was told by Harrison that he had “confirmed to all employees” that he would “be leaving at the end of December. This announcement comes as Nintendo America is moving its offices from Redmond to San Francisco and New York. Harrison will not be joining them.
Harrison has been the lifeblood of Nintendo’s American marketing department for the past 10+ years and will not be easy to replace. He is one of the major reasons for Nintendo’s domination of the video game market. Will his departure open the door for Sony or Microsoft to become the new video game king? Read.
Speaking to a Senate subcommittee investigating the dangers posed to children by his company’s toys, Mattel Chief Executive Officer Richard Eckert was deeply apologetic. Mattel has had three recalls this year…with reason for the recalls ranging from toys containing dangerous lead paint, to loose magnets causing choking hazards.
Eckert guaranteed the safety of his company’s toys in response to the uproar over the recall of over 21 million Barbie and Fisher-Price toys. “I, like you, care deeply about the safety of children,” said Eckert. “I can’t change the past, but I can change how we do things.”
“We are by no means perfect,” he told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee. “But we have tackled difficult issues before and demonstrated an ability to make change for the better, not only within our own company but for the broader industry.”
Mr. Eckert has a tall task ahead of him. With the Christmas season just around the corner, his company stands to lose tens…possibly hundreds of millions of dollars if Mattel does not create change and regain consumer confidence soon.
Remember the little Crutchfield consumer electronics catalog that used to keep showing up in your mailbox back in the day? You know the one where you could order a Kenwood tape deck or a set of Pioneer speakers or an Amp for you car? If you’re too young to remember just ask your parents.
Well that simple idea of bringing the world mail order electronics at the turn of a page turned out to be quite a tremendous business opportunity for Founder and CEO Bill Crutchfield.
Take a ride through any city neighborhood and you’ll hear trunks rattling and doors shaking from the thunderous bass of the music being played by teenagers and twenty-somethings alike from Tokyo to the dirty south.
The phenomenon all started because of Bill Crutchfield who made it as easy as picking up the phone to get must have electronics equipment shipped to your doorstep. This was before there was a Best Buy or Circuit City on every corner. Make no mistake…Crutchfield was ahead of the game. The company was founded in 1974.
And now the man who was way ahead of his time is finally being recognized for his contributions to electronics and gadget aficionados the world over.
Founder and CEO William Crutchfield has been voted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) created the CE Hall of Fame in 2000 to recognize the pioneers of the Consumer Electronics industry and has honored more then 110 industry leaders including inventors, engineers, business executives, retailers and journalists. Read.
Otho Behr, founder of the paint company whose brand is now on the shelves of Home Depot stores everywhere, died recently at the age of 92.
Behr founded the company shortly after World War II, selling linseed oil to retailers from the back of his station wagon. Today BEHR Process Corporation is the largest provider of premium paints and stains to the North American Do-It-Yourself (DIY) home improvement market. The company’s cans feature a bear on the label.
The company, headquartered in Santa Ana, California, was purchased by Masco in 1999.
According to eweek.com former Dell CEO Kevin Rollins, who resigned in January when Michael Dell resumed day-to-day control of his company, will receive more than $48 million in cash from his former company.
Rollins recently signed on as a senior advisor with TGP Capital Partners, a private investment firm based in Kansas City, Mo where he will focus on technology as well as the consumer, commercial and services sectors.
Dell gave the following explanation for the big money payout:
Under the terms of Rollins’ option agreement, 7,370,000 unexercised options that were vested at the time of his retirement expired 90 days after this retirement date.” [Via eweek.com]
